Trinidad & Tobago PM backtracks as questions raised about US military personnel

Uncertainty over the presence and purpose of United States military personnel in Trinidad and Tobago deepened this week after Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar reversed earlier assurances that US Marines had departed the country. Speaking with reporters lst Thursday, she confirmed that Marines were still operating at the airport in Tobago, where they are engaged in work on radar systems as well as improvements to the runway and access roads.

Persad Bissessar said the project aims to strengthen monitoring capabilities in the surrounding waters, an area long targeted by narcotics traffickers. She offered no technical details about the installation, and key members of her cabinet including the attorney general and the ministers responsible for defense and homeland security did not respond to inquiries on Friday.

It remains unclear whether the radar at the Tobago airport is being newly installed or upgraded, and US officials have not disclosed if the system will factor into wider regional operations. Recent American strikes on suspected traffickers across the Caribbean and beyond have intensified calls for cooperation from allied governments.

The prime minister met on Wednesday with Gen Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Donald Trumps senior military adviser, who visited Trinidad and Tobago as Washington continues to build regional partnerships. After their meeting, Persad Bissessar stressed that Trinidad had not been asked to host operations targeting Venezuela and said that the issue did not arise in her latest discussions with US representatives.

Local officials on Tobago confirmed that at least one US military aircraft landed on the island recently for refueling. The activity follows a separate approach by Washington earlier this year to the neighboring island of Grenada, where the US sought permission to place a temporary radar at the main airport. Grenadian authorities have not stated whether they will authorize the request. Both islands sit close to Venezuelan territory, and analysts have linked the increased American presence to efforts to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The regional security picture continued to shift this week when Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader announced that he would grant temporary US access to restricted sections of an air base and the countrys main international airport. Standing beside US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Abinader described the move as part of a cooperative effort against narcotics networks.

US strikes that began in early September have resulted in at least eighty-three deaths as Washington escalates its campaign against drug trafficking in the region.